Resolution of The United Methodist Church on the Korean Peninsula

"It is with great pleasure that I share with you this resolution that was passed by the General Conference of The United Methodist Church when it met in Portland, Oregon this May 2016.

The original resolution was written way back in 1988 and revised and readopted until 2008. This current version is regarded as a rewrite and is therefore the latest official statement at the highest level of The United Methodist Church on the Korean Peninsula. It will have a lifetime of eight years in this current text, unless revised in 2020.

I have had the pleasure of working on this resolution for the last 16 years at the General Board of Church and Society, including leading the rewrite that led to this current version. I hope you find it useful in the many ways we each work for justice, peace and the reunification of the Korean Peninsula."

1. Our Faith Commitment to Peace and Reconciliation

2. The Tragedy of Division and the Urgency of Peace

3. North-South Reconciliation Efforts

4. Historic Role of the Ecumenical Community for Peace in the Korean Peninsula

The Tragedy of Division and the Urgency of PeaceChristians in Korea have spoken about the urgency of the reunification of their nation. Celebrating one hundred years of Korean Methodism in 1985, the Korean Methodist Church, in its Centennial Statement, said:“Faced as we are with the forty years’ tragic division of the Korean Peninsula, we express our longing for unification of the nation in any form possible through peaceful means in the earliest possible time. This must be done through establishing a democratic political structure based upon freedom and human rights, and must be fulfilled by working toward the establishment of a just society built for the sake of the people. Therefore, we reject any form whatever of dictatorship. Deploring the long history of ournation in which the reality has been the sacrifice of our country’s political life, and now with a definite sense of national self-determination which rejects any domination by the superpowers, we disavow any form of war or the taking of life, and commit the whole strength of the Korean Methodist Church to the peaceful reunification of our country.”

For the nation of Korea, divided for more than sixty-six years, justice, peace, and reconciliation are tragically overdue. In 1945, just before the end of World War II, the United States proposed and the Soviet Union agreed to the division of Korea, which resulted in the Korean War with more than 3 million lives lost and millions of families separated. The tragedy of the Korean people continued because the Korean War did not end with a Peace Treaty. Instead, the Armistice Treaty was signed in 1953 leaving the Korean Peninsula under a state of war and tension for more than sixty years. This resulted in the separation of families, many of whom never saw each other again.

The enmity between the superpowers has been played out in the Korean tragedy of war and death, dictatorship and militarization, separation of one people into two hostile camps and divided families with no contact at all. All members of the body of Christ have a responsibility to support the Korean people in their attempts to build democracy, reduce tension, create trust on the Korean Peninsula, heal the divisions, and reunite their country. The threat to peace remains critical with the world’s fifth and sixth largest armies facing each other across the Demilitarized Zone. ...